"Without the wind, the grass does not move. Without
software, hardware is useless."
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8.1

A novice asked the Master, "I perceive that one
computer company is much larger than all others. It towers above
its competition like a giant among dwarfs. Any one of its
divisions could comprise an entire business. Why is this so?"

The Master replied, "Why do you ask such foolish
questions? That company is large because it is large. If it only
made hardware, nobody would buy it. If it only made software,
nobody would use it. If it only maintained systems, people would
treat it like a servant. But because it combines all of these
things, people think it one of the gods! By not seeking to strive,
it conquers without effort."

8.2

A Master Programmer passed a novice programmer one
day. The Master noted the novice's preoccupation with a hand-held
computer game. "Excuse me", he said, "may I examine it?"

The novice bolted to attention and handed the device
to the Master. "I see that the device claims to have three levels
of play: Easy, Medium and Hard", said the Master. "Yet every such
device has another level of play, where the device seeks not to
conquer the human, nor to be conquered by the human."

"Pray, great Master", implored the novice, "how does
one find this mysterious setting?"

The Master dropped the device to the ground and
crushed it under foot. And suddenly the novice was
enlightened.

8.3

There was once a programmer who worked upon
microprocessors. "Look at how well off I am here," he said to a
mainframe programmer who came to visit, "I have my own operating
system and file storage device. I do not have to share my
resources with anyone. The software is self-consistant and
easy-to-use. Why do you not quit your present job and join me
here?"

The mainframe programmer then began to describe his
system to his friend, saying "The mainframe sits like an ancient
sage meditating in the midst of the data center. Its disk drives
lie end-to-end like a great ocean of machinery. The software is as
multifaceted as a diamond, and as convoluted as a primeval jungle.
The programs, each unique, move through the system like a
swift-flowing river. That is why I am happy where I am."

The microcomputer programmer, upon hearing this, fell
silent. But the two programmers remained friends until the end of
their days.

8.4

Hardware met Software on the road to Changtse.
Software said, "You are Yin and I am Yang. If we travel together
we will become famous and earn vast sums of money." And so they set
forth together, thinking to conquer the world.

Presently they met Firmware, who was dressed in
tattered rage and hobbled along propped on a thorny stick.
Firmware said to them, "The Tao lies beyond Yin and Yang. It is
silent and still as a pool of water. It does not seek fame,
therefore nobody knows its presence. It does not seek fortune, for
it is complete within itself. It exists beyond space and
time."